Ski goggles or glasses are frequently used by a skier to enhance or assist their vision while skiing. Ski goggles normally include a plurality of vent holes which are adapted to vent the inside glass surface of the ski goggles so that water will not condense on the inside surface which would inhibit the skier's vision. However, during snowy or other less desirable conditions, the outside glass surface and vent holes of the ski goggle frequently become covered with snow, ice, and/or water which thereby renders the ski goggles ineffective.
To clean the ski goggles, skiers commonly remove their ski goggles and their gloves and then wipe the inside and outside glass surfaces of the ski goggle with a paper towel or other type of water absorbent material. This cleaning procedure has a number of obvious drawbacks, not the least of which is the necessity of carrying a paper towel which thereafter remains wet and becomes frozen thereby rendering the towel useless for subsequent applications. Furthermore, the skiers must remove their gloves to obtain and apply the towel to the ski goggle thereby exposing their hands to the cold and wet environment. Still further, the water absorbent material is not suited for cleaning the vent holes. As such, when the ski goggle is subsequently worn by the skier, water and/or mist quickly condenses on the inside glass surface of the ski goggle thereby requiring the skier to stop and once again clean the ski goggle.
In an attempt to overcome some of the above disadvantages, devices have been developed to remove snow and/or water from ski goggles. One such conventional device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,128. This patent discloses a device 10 having a small handle portion 11 and a wiper 21 attached to an end thereof. The small handle portion 11 has a notch 19 which allows a skier to grasp the device using her thumb and index finger. A retainer cord 23 is provided so that the device 10 may be worn around the neck of a skier. Devices exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,128 have several drawbacks which make their use difficult and ineffective. In particular, the wiper is perpendicular to the handle portion thereby making it difficult for the skier to apply the wiper to inside surface of the ski goggle. Still further, skiers can only grasp the device using their thumb and index fingers and because ski gloves are normally quite bulky, skiers must still remove their gloves in order to grasp their device, thereby exposing their hands to the outside environment. Further, such devices are not suited for cleaning the vent holes of the ski goggles and as such, subsequent uses of the ski goggle result in water quickly condensing on the inside surface of the ski goggle.